Who is the most popular band that actually SOUNDS like they're from the 21st century?

Futuristic/forward leaning? You mean, sounding like they're from the 22nd century?

http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpghttp://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpghttp://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpg

http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpghttp://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpg

http://www.vh1.com/shared/media/images/sn_legacy/sonicnet/assetmedia/bands/images/961032_3080.jpg

http://the-adventurers-club.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/07/15/alyajmichalka.jpg

I mean that most popular artists in the 21st century sound very 20th century to me. Who is the most successful act that literally couldn't have existed 10-20 years ago?

Mastodon?

kanye west?

t-pain?

battles?

i assume that by "literally couldn't have existed" you mean "couldn't have been successful?"

burial?

my god are you talking about the 90's "The Locust" whom I loved but have completely forgotten about? Who iirc were compatriots of enon/brainiac lol indie?

prussianblue.jpg

I was gonna say, The Locust don't especially sound NOW to me.

lol the Locust are from the 90's

Recent Locust is a lot different from 90s Locust.

How do you define, what SOUNDS like the 21st century?
I would say it sounds like the other decades, only built upon the old ideas adding new elements.

MIA?

Timbaland. Britney. Justin.

Also, just out of curiosity, on what planet are Locust, Burial, and Battles "popular"?

popular vs hipster-popular

Crazy Frog

Crazy Frog

-- henry s, Wednesday, 30 January 2008 16:34 (29 seconds ago) Link

FTW. Turning an internet meme/ringtone into a song seems the epitome of 21st Century-ness. (Bonus points if the listener illegally downloaded the song onto his or her iPhone via Pirate Bay.)

Agreed. But on that ringtone note, Soulja Boy Tell 'Em might give Crazy Frog a run for his money -- give him a couple months.

outkast?

Also, just out of curiosity, on what planet are Locust, Burial, and Battles "popular"?

-- xhuxk, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 4:32 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

anymore though, jeez can you guarantee the new, say, janet jackson will sell more than battles in the long run?

"If anyone can think of a band more popular than them, that's just as futuristic/forward-leaning, I would like to hear your argument."

i hear radiohead are pretty popular.

but in general yeah mod hip hop prod or hell just mod pop prod is the answer but that's not a band so nevermind

In defense of Locust, they sound futuristic and always have. Like if the future were made out of hostile robot insects. This scenario is necessarily futuristic, because the robot bugs of today aren't terribly musical, or even hostile.

Now is the hostile robot bug future posited by Locust credible at this point, or is it just another vanished retro-future, like the one with Martian women and flying cars? That's the question, and I think the naysayers are right. Locust's bugfuck dystopian wasteland is totally 90s. There's too much ass-kicking in it. Present day dystopian wastlands tend to be devoid of meaningful activity.

And SS is right. Radiohead is the easy answer (Bjork too). They manage to sound futuristic without tying themselves to short-shelf-life sci-fi aesthetics.

kraftwerk

serious answer isolee

Who the fuck is Locust?

http://www.exclaim.ca/images/up-locust_lrg.jpg

kinda like man or astroman for harcore kidz

http://image.listen.com/img/356x237/4/1/7/8/728714_356x237.jpg

unflattering lighting makes them look really un-futuristic though:

http://laserbeast.com/photos/daren/locust009.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m319/Hempco/poster_mick_jagger_poster_who_isf.jpg

The 21st century is so 90s.

if we're talking actual bands that are actually popular, uh, linkin park?

now yer in for it...

trans am always sounded futuristic to me, but they have been around for a long time.

I cannot mentally place Fergie in any other decade

if we're talking actual bands that are actually popular, uh, linkin park?

-- circles, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 2:48 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

this was almost my answer right when the thread started

I cannot mentally place Fergie in any other decade

-- nabisco, Wednesday, January 30, 2008 3:00 PM (19 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Fergie is the Paula Abdul of her generation.

Timbaland's not a bad one, though the stuff he did in the last years of the 2oth Century arguably sounded more 21st C than the stuff he's doing now.

"I cannot mentally place Fergie in any other decade"

oh come on the 80's or 90's easy hell didn't she start making music in the 80's i wouldn't mind placing her there right now come to think of it

The correct answer here is Avril Lavigne or Pink. Such a "rock" element in manufactured pinup music would have been unthinkable before the 00s.

have you not heard "Crazy Horses"?

you are really wrong but i'm too sleeeeeeeeepy to argue..........

x-post

i mean, hello!!!

http://franklarosa.com/vinyl/BigImg/maewest.jpg

but seriously there are 4 zillion other real examples...

Bay City Rollers, Frampton, etc.

"hey we even did a song called since you've been gone, geir!"

http://bp2.blogger.com/_Fq_WD6i5WIg/RpEPTwJoCNI/AAAAAAAAANA/P5IP2Zt1y9c/s1600/cheriemarie1.jpg

hey what happened to my messin' with the boys cover?

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/5a/4b/47946230a8a05fac07aff010._AA240_.L.jpg

The 21st century is so 90s.

this is so otm re: timbaland, sci fi drum & bass, etc.

yeha geir the BellRays formed in the 1990s

I'm not convinced by any of you yet.

Not saying the Locust are god's gift to modern music. Just that they sell tens of thousands of records and it's still pretty incomprehensible, musically, to the average person.

All your Timbalands and JT's continue to make music that is reasonably accessible and recognizable--even if you somehow played it to someone ten years ago...

Radiohead isn't that far beyond what Pink Floyd were doing 35 years ago.

I'll listen to this argument when I hear an example I can't deny.

BTW, Bjork is maybe the best suggestion I've heard so far.

the locust sell tens of thousands of records? really?

In a way, the 00s are more similar to the previous decade than any decade before it.

I mean, what was people's general attitude towards mullets, shoulderpads, ball sweaters and primitive drum machines in 1998? Compare it to how hip-hop, baggy clothes etc. are still very popular now.

"the locust sell tens of thousands of records? really?"

Not sure if you're being sarcastic here, but yes. They are really really popular for how weird/out they sound and dress. But clearly the image is the key in that equation. Take away the outfits/stage show, and the sales would go way way down.

You know their last two releases were on Epitaph and Ipecac, right?

the locust sell tens of thousands of records? really?

Yeah I was a bit o_0 at that but over their whole existence, yeah probably

xpost but I'm sure there's plenty of stuff on both those labels that has sold piss all

BTW I'm still not sure if this is about technology or a *style* that wasn't extent 10 years ago, or both of these, or neither

"The initial pressing of The Locust (2,000 12" records) sold out in the first week of its release, and the May 1999 3" CD reissue was also very well received; the album sold more than 20,000 copies -- platinum status by independent label standards." - Allmusic.com

I'm assuming their sales have gone up, not down. Eight years of world touring and label climbing will usually have that affect anyway.

In the UK at any rate, these days they can generally expect to get at least 150 kids at their shows, maybe double or triple that in London. I think there is a heavy intrigue factor with them which wouldn't *necessarily* translate into record sales, but yeah I think they do well out of it for the music they play

Not saying the Locust are god's gift to modern music. Just that they sell tens of thousands of records and it's still pretty incomprehensible, musically, to the average person.

All your Timbalands and JT's continue to make music that is reasonably accessible and recognizable--even if you somehow played it to someone ten years ago...

I didn't realize "being from the 21st century" equals "inaccessible" and "unrecognizable"! There are many 1960's and 1970's albums that still sound "incomprehensible" today, does that mean they're from the 21st century too?

Well, I would agree that Yoko Ono or many other bands were ahead of their time. But screaming or skronking or doing free jazz does not really make you 21st century IMO.

The way the Locust have taken John Zorn type cut-ups and translated that into pop-grind for teenagers seems very modern to me though.

The idea I'm reaching for is really weird music that somehow resonates with a lot of people... and why.

I can't be the only person here who has never heard of The Locust?

No, you are not.

Okay, I get your point, but "sounding like they're from the 21st century" ir a much wider category than "really weird music that somehow resonates with a lot of people". There a lot of popular and accesible artists that couldn't have existed in the previous decades.

(xx-post)

I've never heard of Locust either.

Also how literally are we sposed to take "band" in the thread title? Given that it obviously eliminates the ringtone rap/Crazy Frog mentions which I think might be the most plausible answer otherwise

not to mention most electronic music apart from it